Clouded Yellow - Favourite Photo of 2022

[Wurzel]

Clouded Yellow - Favourite Photo of 2022

Week 3

Another week passes and still the butterflies are on the wing but for how much longer who knows? Still the Favourites threads are up and running so the winter should fly by.

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.
Here we got then!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

I was at Temple Ewell on the 20th of August in the morning when not one but three clouded Yellows flew in, they landed close by and I tried my best to get shots following them but keeping a distance at the same time , the Sun was hot and added to my trouble has I tried to get it behind me for the shots, they flew from flower to flower which didn't help Goldie

[millerd]

I realise I haven't many to choose from this year, having largely missed out on what has been a particularly good year for them. However, I was particularly pleased to find one on my local patch on 20th September, even though it was far from a perfect specimen. I did however manage one of my favourite back-lit shots of this somewhat ragged female...

...and one or two rather so-so ones of the upperside of the butterfly in motion.

Dave

[Medard]

Good numbers of Clouded yellows seen at a dependable site that I regularly visit at the Natural Reserve of Moëze-Oléron, Charente-Maritime, France.

Full details at a later date.

Sunrise over the Reserve of Moëze from the ramparts of the Citadel of Brouage.

Citadel of Brouage.

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p61 ... #h1819e3b9

[Phil Bowler]

I have a lot of Clouded Yellow photos to choose from this year in view of the major emergence that took place "on our doorstep" (see my article under my personal diary: Home For Butterflies > Major Clouded Yellow phenomenon in the neighbourhood). I think though that this one has to be my favourite, simply because of both the male and the helice showing their uppersides, albeit not the sharpest image due to wind. Beggars can't be choosers!

[Allan.W.]

Excellent year locally for Clouded Yellows ,and they seem to have had a pretty good season over most of the Uk .I,ve included two females ,both from Orlestone forest ,these two and a single male were present in the same small area for nearly two weeks ,and the helice female is one of two that i found this year .
Allan.W.

[Wurzel]

Clouded Yellow

It was an exceedingly good year for Clouded Yellows; I can’t remember another year where I’ve had multiples on several different trips and I can’t remember having found them as easily as I did this year? Sometimes when it comes to choosing my Favourite for this species it’s simply a case of finding my favourite shot of a single individual but this year how to choose became a problem; to be honest I wish I had the same problem every year!
I could have plumbed for my first ever Helice or the first of the year that had been ‘manifested’ by my wife. Then there were the fantastically fresh individuals one of which just plopped down in front of me almost as soon as I’d left the confines of the car park at Martin Down!

While the various options were whirling around inside my head on particular image kept popping up more regularly than the others so it seems that my choice was made. It was taken on the first cliff path east from Bournemouth beach after I'd spent the morning accruing Brownie Points by taking 2/3 of the girls shopping. Southbourne had been my back-up plan if a trip the previous day hadn’t been successful (which it was) so it was nice to know that my back-up paid off as well – a regular Clouded Yellow double bubble! As well as the story behind the shot what made it stand out for me was the crispness of the outline and the contrasting colours of the butterfly and the side Daisy it's feeding on.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

From the record-breaking eight I saw in south Wales this year, my favourite was this fresh female that turned up on the dunes at Port Eynon, Gower, on 27th August:

[Neil Freeman]

A good 'Clouded Yellow Year' by most account with large numbers being seen along the south coast and at some locations further inland. From what I have read it appears that the highest numbers were seen where females had laid eggs in fields of clover or lucerne or in herbal leys earlier in the summer and good emergences followed a few weeks later.
In my case, due to limitations on travelling far for much of this year, I only saw Clouded Yellows on one occasion, this being when we went down to see our daugher Sarah in Emsworth in September and I had a walk on Thorney Island. After overnight thunderstorms and a dull and wet start to the day, it cleared up in the afternoon and I found a few Clouded Yellows down at the southern end of Thorney, including a nice helice female.

Clouded Yellow female helice - Thorney Island 05.09..2022

I also like this shot of a male chasing a female which brings back memories of watching them for a good few minutes before they disappeared over a nearby hedgerow.

Clouded Yellow pair - Thorney Island

Cheers,

Neil.

[Stevieb]

An excellent year for Cloudies here in Wiltshire with multiple counts on Beacon Hill.

Many photos taken but these obliging individuals were my favourite. Taken on 3rd & 7th October.

[David M]

Great uppersides, Steve.

[bugboy]

Easily my best season for this species by a very long way. The south coast seemed to have an endless supply in late summer through to early autumn with more helice than I've ever come across in a single season too. Choosing a favourite from the hundreds I've ended up with is near impossible but any of a helice upperside definitely rank up there!